The opening book of the Bible appropriately begins with the phrase “In the beginning.” This phrase…is also used as the title of the book in Jewish tradition. Indeed, it is a book of beginnings or “origins” as its English title Genesis (derived from the Septuagint [Gen. 2:4a is its likely source]) suggests. Although infrequently cited elsewhere, the book is foundational to the rest of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), to the Old Testament, and even to the New Testament.
These five books of the Torah share a unity of history, plot, and theme that draws them together, as does their traditional ascription to a single author – Moses. Thus it will be impossible to completely isolate Genesis from the other four books in the following discussion of authorship, style, and theological message.
Genesis covers an immensely long period of time, longer perhaps than the rest of the Bible put together. It begins in the distant past of creation, an event about whose absolute date we cannot even speculate, through millennia to reach Abraham at the end of Gen. 11. At this point the story line slows down and focuses on four generations of the family of promise as they move from Mesopotamia to the land of promise, only to conclude the book in Egypt. Thus we have a book of foundations that spans a time period of unknown duration and follows the people of God as they travel from one end of the Near East to the other.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth...” The book of Genesis, and the first book of the Torah and indeed as the opening work of the canon, is a book of foundations. It serves as the introduction to the Mosaic law, and it begins the history of redemption that occupies the rest of the Bible...The Bible may be described as a four-part symphony, moving from creation to the fall, then on to redemption and finally re-creation. The book of Genesis lays the foundation for the rest of the Bible by narrating briefly the first two movements, while beginning the third. The fourth movement is the subject of the last two chapters of the Bible (Rev. 21-22).
Approaching the New Testament
As might be expected from such a rich and varied book, it is impossible to exhaust its biblical-theological implications. At best, we can only be suggestive.
Genesis 1-11
Creation, as has often been stated, is the foundation of all that follows. The Garden of Eden represents everything that men and women have lost due to their sin in the past and everything they yearn for in the present. The account of the fall (Gen. 3) triggers the whole history of redemption that concerns most of the rest of the Old and New Testament. The creation account, however, is particularly echoed in Revelation 21-22. The “new earth and new heavens” will reflect many of the features of the Garden of Eden, thus expressing the belief that the end will involve a restoration of the beginning.
The account of the Fall records not only God’s judgment but also the mitigation of that punishment. Perhaps most notable of all is his curse upon the serpent:
Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all wild animals.
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and betwen your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel. (Gen. 3:14-15)
This curse has come to be known as the Protoevangelium, the earliest statement of the gospel of salvation, though some dispute the appropriateness of this. That there is an ancient anticipation of Christ the deliverer here may be supported by the allusion to this curse in Romans 16:20 and the fact that the entire New Testament witnesses to Christ’s defeat of Satan on the cross (see Revelation 16:9 for the identification of the serpent with Satan). That defeat leads to the reversal of God’s judgment on humankind. In the same way, it is striking to read the account of the gift of the knowledge of foreign languages at Pentecost in the light of the Babel story.
Genesis 12-36
Theologically speaking, the centerpiece of this middle section of Genesis is the Abrahamic covenant. Here God promises Abraham descendants and lands and finally assures him that he will be a blessing to the nations. The Old Testament acknowledges that these promises are fulfilled in part within its own time frame as Isaac is born and from him descends the Israelite nation, as Israel itself occupies Palestine, and as individuals from the nations (Rahab, Naaman, Nebuchadnezzar) turn to Israel’s God. All of the promises of God, however, including those to Abraham “are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Cor. 1:20), and Christians are now considered “Abraham’s offspring” (Rom. 9:8). For a more detailed discussion of the relationship between the Abrahamic covenant and the new covenant, consult O. P. Robertson (1980).
Even further, however, the book of Hebrews (Heb. 11:8-19) draws our attention to Abraham’s life as a struggle of faith. As described above, Abraham received God’s promise and then struggled in the face of obstacles to the fulfillment of that promise. So Hebrews draws an analogy with Christians. They too have received the promise of God, but daily confront obstacles. Abraham is presented as an example in order to support the Christian reader in this struggle.
Genesis 37-50
Joseph recognized that he was not at the mercy of chance; he was deeply aware of God’s hand in his life, positioning him to serve as a deliverer of his people (Gen. 50:20). In this regard Joseph’s life foreshadows Jesus Christ. In the same way as Joseph, God overruled the intentions of wicked people in order to bring about deliverance. Jesus, after all, was crucified by people who only sought to destroy him. God, however, “intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 50:20; see Acts 2:22-24). In the light of this truth that God overrules evil for good, the Christian may rest content in the well-known promise that “God works for the good of those who love him” (Rom. 8:28).